Lehighton men to face trial in child rape

By Manuel Gamiz Jr. The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) (TNS)

Thursday

Apr 18, 2019 at 9:01 PMApr 18, 2019 at 9:01 PM

As Carbon County authorities investigated child rape allegations against one man in 2012, it wasn’t until six years later they were made aware that the man’s friend, Brent R. Getz, who would later become police chief of the borough of Weissport, was also allegedly raping the same victim, an agent with the state attorney general’s office testified Monday.

The accuser said she was raped “several times each month” by Getz and his friend Gregory Wagner from the time she was 4 years old until just before she turned 12, the day she told a substitute teacher in Lehighton in May 2012 about what was happening, agent Sean McGlinn testified.

Initially, the girl only named Wagner to Franklin Township police as the person who was raping her in his home, McGlinn testified.

The investigation nearly resulted in charges against Wagner, but it went quiet for several years until August, when another Franklin Township police officer took over the case and interviewed the girl. This time, she gave a written statement that Getz was also with Wagner and they both took part in the raping her for several years, McGlinn testified.

On Monday, Getz, 27, of Lehighton, appeared before Senior District Judge Edward M. Lewis and was ordered to face trial on charges of rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated indecent assault of a child, indecent assault and three counts of criminal conspiracy.

Wagner, 28, also of Lehighton, also appeared before Lewis, but gave up his right to a preliminary hearing. He faces the same charges as Getz, plus additional charges of simple assault and sexual exploitation of children.

Lewis denied a request to lower Getz’s bail. He and Wagner are both in Carbon County jail under $250,000 bail each.

Weissport Borough Council voted unanimously this month to fire Getz, 27, as chief. Officials there said they were unaware of the attorney general’s investigation when Getz was hired in February.

McGlinn was the only witness to testify at Monday’s hearing, giving some details of how the case unfolded and how he got involved.

The girl first reported the rapes to a substitute teacher in 2012, naming Wagner as the person who repeatedly assaulted her, from 2005 to May 2012, starting when she was 4 years old. She said he would also show her pornography on his laptop, McGlinn testified.

The girl was interviewed by a forensic interviewer, and a child sex assault examiner found symptoms "consistent with sexual abuse,” according to court records.

McGlinn testified he did not know why charges were never filed against Wagner in 2012 or in 2015 when a criminal complaint was prepared, but never filed. It was later dismissed due to a technicality.

McGlinn said he took over the investigation in September after a Franklin Township police officer was told by the girl that Getz was involved. He said the Carbon County district attorney’s office passed the case to the attorney general’s office because Getz was an active police officer in the county. At the time, Getz was an officer in Weissport, a tiny Carbon County borough of about 400 residents, and was later named chief.

Since his involvement, McGlinn said he’s interviewed the girl three times in person and several other times over the phone.

Besides giving details about the sexual assaults by Wagner and Getz, she also explained why she never named Getz as a suspect when she first came forward in 2012, he said.

McGlinn said the girl did tell her mother and a counselor at a victim’s center in Jim Thorpe that Getz was also sexually assaulting her, but the counselor gave her disturbing advice in 2012.

“She was told by her counselor to stick to one perpetrator," the agent testified. "Two would make people disbelieve her.”

McGlinn said he is looking into the counselor’s statement to the girl. He added that the crisis center has since closed.

Getz and Wagner were arrested on March 26. McGlinn spoke to Getz after his arrest and he denied all the allegations, saying "he could not confess to something he did not do.”

McGlinn testified a second agent also spoke to Getz and he blurted, "Oh my God, I’m going to jail.”

During the hearing, Getz’s attorney Brian Collins repeatedly objected to testimony that he described as hearsay because McGlinn was the only one to testify.

After the hearing, Collins said Getz is being “railroaded.”

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